Has G-07-02 known as the New Albany Smoke Free Air Act really put to rest? If so may it Rest In Peace!
This is one ordinance that I am happy to see get tabled and go to committee (Also known as the Bermuda Triangle, cyber space, and the black hole). Not that I have very strong opinions one way or the other, which happens to be true also for the citizens of New Albany. It seams the only people interested enough in this ordinance to call the council members to voice concerns are the non-profits that are pushing this issue nationwide.
The reasons I am glad to see this issue R.I.P are two fold. The first is that this is not going to be an easy issue to even get out of committee. There are so many ways from special exemptions to being all inclusive that this could be written. If council had nothing else to work on it would take 6 months to get this out of committee. How long do you think it would take to get it discussed and passed by the sitting council? This could prove to be another one of those please everybody votes where a certain council member could find himself voting yes, abstaining, and then voting no to the first, second and third readings of the same ordinance!! Enough of that stuff already. There are much more important issues where the city council needs to spend valuable time.
The second reason is this. There is so much pressure from the non-profits on the state and federal legislature that this issue is getting handled by them. Did you know that at least 22 states have initiated smoking bans? These are not states that have towns and cities that have passed bans. These are states that have statewide state initiated smoking bans. Here are the ones that I have found, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, HAWAII, IDAHO, MAINE, MASSACHUSETTS, NEVADA, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, OHIO, OKLAHOMA, PUERTO RICO, RHODE ISLAND, SOUTH DAKOTA, UTAH, VERMONT, & WASHINGTON.
So sooner or later the state of Indiana is going to pass something. Let the state legislature handle this complicated process for us. That’s way they make the big bucks. If we don’t like what they give us I would hope our council could handle tweaking that.
Sorry it has been so long inbetween posts. I have been spending all my daylight hours putting two water gardens in my back yard.
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Is it not amazing how quickly the tides turned when the lobbiest groups with the most money switched from bug tobacco to the anti tobacco lobbiest groups?
Here's something to chew on, I know a non-profit place (clearing throat) that will pay for chantix to stop smoking at a huge loss per patient, but will not pay for an epi-pen for severe life threatening allergic reactions at only a very small loss. Hmmmmmm...priorities of PC pressure?
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